Following a report Tuesday saying that LeBron James calls plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers before head coach David Blatt does, both coach and player said Wednesday that such talk is much ado about nothing.
"I don't think that's peculiar," Blatt said of James calling plays. "When the game is going on and you are in the heat of the battle at times, you can't get a message through or you don't want to stop the flow, so a guy may (call the play on his own).
"We have sets that we know what we're going to use going in. You know, we have a package that we're going to use going in and at times, according to the flow of the game, somebody may call out a play. I don't think that's unusual."
ESPN's Brian Windhorst said on Bill Simmons' "B.S. Report" Tuesday that the Cavs threw out the Princeton offense Blatt had instituted in the preseason, and now Blatt merely repeats the play calls after James makes them initially.
"Well, we have a package," James said Wednesday. "If I see something, I have the right to call plays. Kyrie (Irving) does as well. We kind of do that play calling. Coach Blatt does the play calling obviously throughout the game in timeouts, but it's great to be able to have some type of freedom out there with Kyrie to be able to call sets that we feel best suit our team."
Blatt and James have valid points. Even if James has been given the freedom to make the play call and uses it more often than not, he's still calling plays from the package that Blatt has given the team, so it's not exactly like he's going rogue.
"I have a feel for the game," James said. "I know what helps our team and we got great minds. Our coaching staff are great. I thank them that they allow me to give some input on what I think we should do at times, but ultimately it's their call."
Windhorst and others have reported at various points in the season that the Cavs have undermined Blatt's authority, and where there's smoke, there's likely fire.
But after a troubling 19-20 start, the Cavs have won 29 of their last 36 to climb atop the Central Division and sit second in the Eastern Conference.
